2012 News Archives

History Repeats Itself, Again!

Allies Victorious at the 25th Annual Allies vs. Axis Solo

December 9, 2012 - Dixie Region SCCA held the 25th Annual Allies vs. Axis Solo Autocross at South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, Georgia. Allies vs. Axis commemorates Pearl Harbor Day with a Solo event on the Sunday closest to the anniversary of the December 7, 1941 surprise attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces, the event that led to American participation in WWII. This event is a team autocross, with American and British ("Allies") vehicles competing against Japanese and German ("Axis") cars. Italian cars are Axis before lunch and Allies in the afternoon. Swedish cars, officially neutral, park in the paddock and sell stuff to both sides at enormous profit. We have decided to take a year off from making jokes about French cars in hope that one may actually show up next year.

In the early morning fog, the Axis team made their ceremonial first run around the course at precisely 7:53 AM, the time the first bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. With their war cry of “Furu to Yaku!” (“Shake and Bake” in English) ringing out, the Axis team took to the course. The attack squadron included Arty "Yaku" Gallegos, Nicole "Rookie" Hamrick, and Floyd "Furu" Webb. The Axis team, blinded by the early morning fog, totally ignored the course and were all declared “DNFs”. The Allies met this attack with a blistering barrage of anti-aircraft rice for the attackers as they crossed the finish line.

The odds were stacked against the Allies with 58 Axis entries versus only 48 in the Allied camp for this 25th running of the event. The Axis powers also held an edge right out of the box with 8 uncontested classes. The Allies once again spread themselves into a “Thin Red Line” by bumping cars into higher classes to level the playing field against the numerically superior Axis team. The Axis forces went off to an early lead, and the numbers mounted against the Allies throughout the early runs.

When the dust and tire smoke settled the Axis finished the day with 11 class wins:

Repeating the story of WWII, against all odds the Allies came through victorious again. For the 25th year in a row, history has been upheld; the Allies prevailed and took 20 class wins against the Axis 11.

In addition to class win trophies, the "Crappiest Run Golden Toilet Seat” award is given to the driver who has the crappiest run, or whoever falls victim to voter fraud. This is a "people's choice" award, with all entrants asked to vote early and often for their favorite crappy driver. This year the ballots were stuffed in an act of Brotherly Love. The win was not so much for the crappiest run but a promise made by Wilson Richardson to his brother James. Seems Wilson promised James a trophy, and so Wilson then voted for James approximately 128 times, a legal maneuver in this highly esteemed and yet totally corrupt Allies vs Axis award.

Awards were given again this year for best decorated Allied and Axis cars. The Axis win went to Tally Imports driver Floyd Webb for a Japanese battle flag painted across the hood of his Acura Integra with a close second by a German decorated 2004 BMW Z4 owned by Ray Brake. The Allied award went to Sandy Heath’s P40 Warhawk with an honorable mention to the CJ Jeep of the Murphy/Brueck team. The Jeep wasn’t actually decorated, but it’s a Jeep, for gosh-sakes!

And as always part of Allies vs. Axis, Dixie Region collects toilet paper and cash donations for the Leon County Shelter for the homeless. Like previous years, this part of the event was a great success, with plenty of donations for the Shelter given by the entrants. We want to thank all that contributed, and this is a part of the Allies vs. Axis event that both sides can take pride in.

The hero of the day was a young man named Russ Clark. Russ had a ride lined up for Allies-vs-Axis, and then it fell through. Then, he volunteered his trailer to tow a car for a friend and was offered a ride in that car. The car broke down on its first run, leaving Russ again ride-less. Another hero, Sandy Heath, offered his Mustang to Russ, who then used it to win A-Mod for the Allied Team.

Another great part of Allies-vs-Axis 2012 was summed up by Dixie Region RE Chris Yearwood: “AvA was a great success today. The one image I can't get out of my head was the long row of novices repeatedly getting out of their cars and sharing a look of excitement with their friends and competitors. It reminded me of children on Christmas morning seeing gifts which had appeared overnight. But, in this case, the gift was the ability to safely turn a tire into noise and adrenaline.” Yes, Chris, you’re right, it was one of the best moments in a day full of great moments.

Dixie Region To Purchase Larger Equipment Trailer

December 2012 - Three years ago, a week after the 2009 Allies vs. Axis event, the Dixie Region equipment trailer was stolen on December 12, 2009. Everything was gone... $15,000 worth of trailer, cones, timers, blower, generator, loaner helmets, and other Solo equipment including 480 rolls of toilet paper donations for The Shelter. Anyone around Dixie Region at the time recalls the gut wrenching news. But with a successful fundraising campaign we raised thousands of dollars from many generous donors, including a trailer donation from the Texas SCCA Region and $1000 check from South Carolina Region. Some how enough equipment was replaced in just a little over a month to maintain the 2010 Solo schedule without interruption. The Texas Region trailer has served us well over the past three years, but as Dixie events have grown in popularity, more equipment was purchased and eventually we outgrew the Texas trailer. We needed something bigger for all the cones and equipment.

With hard work and a little luck Dixie Region has saved enough capital over the past three years to not only self insure all the equipment and trailer, but now, finally, purchase a larger trailer. With economy the way is we were able to negotiate a very good deal on a larger 20 foot trailer for Dixie Region. The trailer is sure to stand out in theft resistant bright orange and eventually adorned with large Dixie Region logos. We expect to take delivery of the new trailer in time for the January 2013 Solo event.
With the good fortune Dixie has enjoyed since that challenging day in 2009, it’s time to pay it forward. So the membership and board has decided to donate our old trusty Texas equipment trailer to another SCCA Region, to be announced soon.

25th Annual "Allies vs. Axis" Solo

December 2012 - It's On... for the 25th year! The annual Allies vs. Axis Solo will be held at South Georgia Motorsports Park on December 9, 2012. Be a part of this historic and infamous Solo commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day, where American and British car models do battle against the Japanese and German brands. The event is run and scored like a normal Solo event with the additional twist of the overall Allies vs. Axis competition. Register Online.

Make your vote count!

Awards will be given for the "Crappiest Run" and the "Best Decorated" cars for the Allies side and the Axis side. So vote early, vote often! Look for the ballot boxes around the timing trailer the day of the race.

"Wipe Up The Competition"

With the holidays coming, let’s not forget those less fortunate by donating the most requested and needed item for the Tallahassee-Leon Shelter in serving the homeless – of all things, toilet paper. The Shelter uses as much as 48 rolls of toilet paper a day (more than 1,400 per month). For the fourth year in a row, the Dixie Region SCCA goal is to donate a month’s supply of toilet paper to The Shelter. Please bring a package of toilet paper on the day of the "Allies vs. Axis" event. If you can’t bring toilet paper, we will accept donations of $10 and we will purchase the toilet paper for you. If every entrant donates a 24-roll package of toilet paper, we will exceed our month supply donation goal and deliver a truckload of TP to the Shelter. Please be a part of the Dixie Region 4th Annual support of The Shelter. There will be a table at registration to drop off your TP donation or leave the cash at check in/registration.

2012 Dixie National Tour - March 9 - 11

Catch all the action at the 2012 Dixie National Tour online at the SCCA Dixie Tour Event Page. There you can find complete event information, schedule, Evolution Driving School and Test and Tune on Friday March 9th, entrant list, and results. There is even a link to listen live during runs on Saturday and Sunday, March 10th and 11th. If you can't be at the Tour this year you can still take part.

SCCA Solo on Speed Channel

New and Larger Parking/Grid Area
at Spence Field

May 2012 - Dixie Region is fortunate in many ways to have two terrific sites for us to play, South Georgia Motorsports Park in Adel, GA and Spence Field in Moultrie, GA. We generally alternate between the two running SGMP in the first 3 or 4 months of the season and then switch over to Spence Field for the remainder of the year. SGMP boasts plenty of parking, a huge grid, and 12 acres of asphalt. Spence Field was a WWII training base built in 1941 with 7 acres of clean concrete for the Solo course. But for many years the only place to park and grid at Spence Field was on one of the old asphalt taxi strips. Long and narrow, filled with gravel and weeds. Grid consisted of a line of cars waiting to run. A continuous traffic jam ensued. That all ended in April when Dixie was able to secure a new parking and grid area adjacent to the course in front of the Maule warehouse. The site rental costs a little more but now that we can spread out and have a traditional large grid area it’s well worth it. If you haven’t been to Spence Field in a while come check it out. It’s a much better venue than what we’ve had in the past and the concrete is still clean and grippy.

January Solo Event Captured on GoogleMaps

April 2012 - While at the April Dixie membership meeting Sara Hosig mentioned a search of South Georgia Motorsports Park, Adel, GA on GoogleMaps or GoogleEarth includes satellite photos that were taken during our January 2012 Solo. You can see the cars lined up in grid. And if you scroll in close enough you can even see the cones on the course. Check it out.

2012 SCCA Solo National Tour Begins in Dixie with 277 Competitors at SGMP

March 2012 - Once again the SCCA National Tour began at South Georgia Motorsports Park hosted by Dixie Region. The Tour was a three day Solofest that begain with a test and tune, Evo school, and two days of competition. The Dixie Tour was also the debut of the supplemental Road Tire classes, which essentially takes the Stock Category classes and indexes them to determine a class winner. Dixie's own Michael May was the first class winner in Road Tire FWD in a Honda Fit. Joe Austin trophied in 3rd place in H Stock, Robert Lewis placed 1st in C Prepared, Rob Ippolito trophied 2nd in Street Modified, and Tom Austin finished 1st in D Modified. Complete final results are posted at the SCCA National website.

Coloney Bell donates new timing laptop

February 2012 - A big thank you to Dixie member John Bell of Coloney Bell Engineering for donating $500 to purchase a new laptop computer for timing and scoring. The old laptop has seen better days and would lock up from time to time even during event runs. The new laptop will help ensure more seamless events with less down time.

Please thank John next time you see him.

2011 Solo Class Champions Announced
at Dixie Annual Awards Banquet

January 2012 - Class Champions for the 2011 Dixie Solo season were announced at the January 7th awards banquet. Top honor of 2011 Driver of the Year goes to Colin Atteberry (pictured below left) for winning the most points during the 2011 season in the FJB Class.

The Member of the Year was awarded to Tracy Lewis (pictured above right) for her dedication and tremendous volunteer work for the club including the registration and timing and scoring steward.

The Worker of the Year went to Mike Lollar (pictured at right with Chris Yearwood, RE) for his extraordinary contributions to Dixie Region.

There were plenty of now infamous gag awards handed out as well. Many thanks to Steve Seymore for coordinating the annual banquet, and to his wife, Deborah, for the room arrangements.